The World Heritage Site of Stonehenge, Avebury
and associated sites lies within Wiltshire. World Heritage Sites are designated by UNESCO
after a lengthy assessment of the international significance of their cultural or natural heritage.
The UK currently has 25 sites inscribed.

Stonehenge

Stonehenge is the United Kingdom's most famous prehistoric site. The stone circle,
with its shaped stones, lintels and unique jointing, is unparalleled in the world. Probably built for
ceremonial activities, it was originally approached along the Avenue, a processional way aligned with
the midsummer sunrise. This enigmatic monument is a powerful testimony to a civilization of 5000 years
ago.

The first phase of development in the Neolithic period (around 3000BC) was a large
earthen bank and ditch ('henge'), later complemented by timber settings. Circa 2500BC a double crescent
of 'blue stones' transported from Wales was built, and soon after a new circle with larger sarsen stones
was constructed. The monument continued to be used until about 1500BC when it appears to have been abandoned.

Stonehenge is surrounded by a landscape of international importance for its dense
concentration of prehistoric remains. It includes several groups of Bronze Age burial mounds, some ancient
settlements and field systems, and other distinctive monuments such as the Cursus, Woodhenge and Durrington
Walls. The Stonehenge World Heritage Site covers 2,600 hectares of farmed land and chalk grassland,
also important as a natural habitat.

Avebury

The Avebury complex of sites and monuments, situated on the edge of the Marlborough
Downs, represents a unique surviving example of outstanding human endeavour in Neolithic times and later.
Avebury is the largest stone circle in Britain where some 180 local, unshaped stones were used. The
circle and associated sites are seen in juxtaposition to later historic features - small villages, designed
parklands and large manor houses. These contribute to a distinctive historic cultural landscape. The
particularly rich assemblage of archaeological sites, both visible and buried, provides an important
record of past landscape patterns and use.

Avebury is one of a small number of areas in southern Britain, which appears to
have acted as foci for ceremonial and ritual activities during the Neolithic and Early Bronze Age. Avebury
is one of the richest and most varied of these areas. The remarkable survival of the monuments such
as the Henge, Stone Circle and Avenue, Silbury Hill, West Kennet Long Barrow, The Sanctuary and Windmill
Hill, provides a unique dimension to a landscape where major archaeological discoveries are still being
made.